New Heatsink + Fan

[Retro]

Hey,

I need to get a new heatsink and fan for my cpu (see sig). I have a few questions, which need answering before I purchase.

I was origionally using the stock Intel heatsink and fan to cool my prescott but got fed up with the poor heat transfer provided by the thermal pad. I removed my Heatsink and fan yesterday and noticed some remains of the thermal pad on the cpu.

How do I go about cleaning this off before applying the new thermal paste? Is there any particular technique? I am probably going to purchase a small bottle of citrus based solvent to remove the remains.

For my new heatsink and fan I was considering getting a Zalman ultra quiet cpu cooler with a heatsink constructed entirely of copper. It uses a 92mm fan which runs at 1350-2450RPM. Will this be a significant improvement over the stock cooler?

Retro.

 

[bobojuice]

I would steer away from using anything wet on my cpu. You could try a razorblade, it might do the trick...

 

[ag3]

To remove the previous compound from a CPU, you will need multiple Q-Tips, and some rubbing alcohol.

Dip the Q-Tip in rubbing alcohol, and wipe the tip off on a napkin as you want it to be damp, not wet.

Wipe the compound off of the CPU (with caution).

 

[ag3]

You will notice quite a difference after replacing the stock heatsink/fan. I would also recommend applying Arctic Silver 5 as your thermal compound.

 

[bobojuice]

Great idea with the q-tip. I wouldnt have thought of that.

 

[ag3]

Thx! I have been using that method for the longest time.

 

[bobojuice]

You ever lapped your HS? Been thinking about it but i dont know if it's really worth it...

 

[ag3]

Personally, I do not lap my heatsinks.

Regardless of the amount of time put into it, the surface will never be completely smooth. And the minimal performance gain is just not worth the effort. I rely on the compound itself to fill in the majority of grooves and imperfections.

 

[ag3]

But then again, it does depend on the initial quality of the heatsink.

 

[Nubius]

To remove the previous compound from a CPU, you will need multiple Q-Tips, and some rubbing alcohol

Damn you! I was gonna suggest that! Nah, I use the same thing though works great. I would be more terrified of the razorblade. I just lapped a heatsink the other day. It was the coolermaster jet heatsink...man...they did a HORRIBLE job on the surface because after polishing it down and everything you could see the center still had original machine grooves in it. BUT.....I got the premium heatsink kit from www.easypckits.com and have an SLK-900A on the way and will lap that puppy mirror style! Demalli on these forums said he noticed a 4degree drop in his CPU temp and he didn't even use the two most finest grits in the set. he only went to 20 micron and theres also 15 and 10 available plus the 10,000 grit polish! The one by swiftech with the helicoid shape 'screws' coming off it...they exclaim to have a lapping job of .003" (3/10 of 1/1000") and the base looked smooooooth. So I'm gonna lap that beast, plus I got AS5 for it, plus a tornado or maybe the coolermaster blower on the heatsink haven't decided...cause the tornado on the rear as intake blowing into a blower drum seems like it'd be really efficient.

Back to subject: hehe yeah q-tip and some 99% iso will do you good. atleast 90% IMO but some people say you can get by with 70%.....maybe I just like the fumes....